The Promise Ring
by salaciamaris
Summary: Things were going so good. Then those infernal letters came. Ruining everything! Well almost...


_Disclaimer: I own nothing here! Except maybe Captain Adair Turnbull! And Wizardwall is taken off the title of a book that is sitting on one of my parents bookcases. Thieves World: Beyond Wizardwall by Janet Morris. And Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury, and AOL Time Warner. _

Harry walked into the seventh-year boy's dormitory, to find Ron standing rigidly, in the center of the room, clutching a piece of recently arrived owl post.

"What is it Ron?" he asked.

"Look for yourself, you got one as well," Ron said in a grave, low voice.

Harry looked over at his bed and saw the letter addressed to him. Harry walked over to the side of the bed, and reached for it and opened it...

_Mr. Harry Potter,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected to join the Wizarding Battalion.  
Immediately after leaving Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you are to report to Wizardwall where you will begin training.  
You and your fellow recruits shall Floo to Wizardwall from Hogwarts the day after your last day of term. _

Your commanding officer,  
Captain Adiar Turnball

Now Harry understood the rigid stance Ron had taken. He looked up from the piece of parchment to his friend.

"What is this?"

"What do you think it is?"

"Can they do this?"

"Apparently, yeah."

"Shite..."

Cutting him off, Harry spun around to a loud bang on the dormitory door, dropping the shocking letter.

"Ron? Harry? Are you in there?" Instead of waiting for an answer the door just burst open and a small frizzy haired brunette came charging in. "Did you two get one too?" Hermione demanded. "Oh give that to me!" She snatched the parchment still clutched in Ron's hand. "Oh…yours are different." She looked up at Ron with wide eyes. "Now the Wizarding military is getting involved and they are reinstating the draft!"

"We figured as much, Hermione," Harry said, lacking any warmth in his voice.

Hermione had apparently seen Harry's letter and picked it up from the floor where he had let it fall.

"Yours says the same as Ron's. Why is mine different?"

"What does yours say?" Ron asked.

"That the day after the last day of term, I am to Floo to this place called Wizardwall, but I am not to train like you two are, I am to assist in the research department."

"Figures she gets off easy," Ron joked. Harry hid a half smile. Hermione let out a gust of air and rolled her eyes.

"You don't understand. Once your training starts, we won't get to see each other for a long time. And when you're done with training, you might be..." Hermione stopped herself to take a steadying breath. Ron looked to Harry with a pained expression. Harry nodded and proceeded to leave the boys dormitory.

"Hey now...it'll all be alright," he said as he slowly walked towards her.

"How do you know? I'll be in some research facility and you might be out there..." He walked to her and pulled her into a tight embrace. Realization fully hit her then and she collapsed against him, in a sobbing mess, dropping the letter.

"Now wait a minute here...Hermione Jane Granger, ar...are you acting like one of those blubbering girls? Like Cho?" Hermione managed to hit him in the arm, despite the tight hold he had on her.

"You're impossible!" she said as she lifted her head from his shoulder.

"Yep", he replied with a mischievous grin. And to answer your earlier question, I know because, a certain girl, who just happens to be at the top of her class, has been asked to join the research department, without any formal training. And do you know what they will be doing in this department, love?" he asked with an air of smugness about him.

"I assume offensive and defensive spells, charms, and potions. Making them more effective and such."

"That's right. And that's why I know everything will be okay. Because you'll be there. And even if we weren't in the situation that we are in now, I'd still feel safe because they have the bravest, smartest, kindest witch on their team of...of...really, really clever people"

"Oh yeah...that was most definitely on the spot."

"Want to do something else on the spot?" he asked eagerly.

"And have one of your roommates catch us snogging? I don't think so. I'm rather fond of my Head Girl badge and I'd like to keep it for the next couple of weeks. And I know how much you like it when I stare at your badge." She smiled cheekily up at him, fingering the read and gold badge he had pinned on his own school robes.

"Oi! The cheek!" Ron bent his head down to kiss her, dismayed when she slipped right out of his arms.

"Hah! You're going to have to wait!" she said as she made her way to the door. "Bye..."

"Bu...bu...but...Hermione?" He started walking towards her, but she was already out the door, closing it with a click. He stood at the door for several moments. _I am going to miss her_, he thought. He looked at the fallen letter, where Hermione had dropped it, and gave a sigh. _You knew that the military would get off their lazy arses and get involved at some point. But why did it take them so long and why now? Why when everything with her was going so good, did this have to happen?_

He knew that tonight on rounds, or maybe just after rounds, Hermione would remember that after the leaving feast, they wouldn't see each other for some time. Who knew when this ruddy war would be over. Even though they would be at the same military compound, hopefully, he thought, he would be in the training area and would not be allowed out to leave to go to other areas on the compound. And she would be in the research area, and allowed to leave. But he knew her well enough to know that she'd most likely fall asleep at her work station, with piles of books and piles of parchment, looming over her.

A small wistful smile touched his lips then, thinking of her, in her environment – having to push her unruly hair out of her face, over and over again – the way she licked her lips when she found something particularly interesting, as if she wanted to devour it. Then how she would softly bite her lip as she jotted down what she found. The way she would shift from having both feet on the floor, to crossing them at the ankles, to sitting cross-legged, to sitting on one of her legs. The way she never noticed him studying her with such intensity. Well, she had caught him staring at her, but she never knew that he was watching her with a much more deeper purpose. Well, not until a short time ago.

_FLASHBACK_

_Hermione had been just ahead of him, for she'd always preferred a brisk pace. Where as he liked to take his time, plus this had given him an excellent view, even though she had been wearing school robes._

_"Well, I believe we're done." She had turned to him then, "Shall we go back to the tower?"_

_"Sure..." He'd shrugged._

_"You alright?" He'd seen her cock an eyebrow._

_"Yeah, why?"_

_"I...umm...well...no reason," she had answered shaking her head jerkily. At that moment it had been his turn to cock an eyebrow at her and also plant a playful smile on his face._

_"Really?"_

_"Yes." With her abrupt reply she had begun to make her way back to the tower. Hermione had been just about to pass him, when he'd reached for her arm and took hold._

_"You sure?" At his question, she'd given him a strange look._

_"You've changed so much," she'd said with a small amount of awe in her voice. Hope had spiked in him for a moment._

_She's noticed!_

_Over the past few years he had made a conscious effort to change. What she had said back in fourth year had finally made sense and even though he had started noticing girls even back then, he hadn't really noticed Hermione until sixth year. It had taken all this time to get up his courage to just flirt with her. At that moment it seemed all his effort might pay off._

_During the walk back to the tower, he had sped up and she had slowed down, so that they'd been walking at the same pace. Ever since they had started walking back they hadn't said a word to each other, but they had been sneaking flirtatious glances at one other. When they'd reached the corridor before the Fat Lady's portrait, Ron decided to pause. He'd stopped her with his hand on her arm and had turned her in the process. He'd turned to face her and Hermione had given him a quizzical look._

_"Hermione...ummm...would you like to...uhh..." he had trailed off nervously._

_"Would I like to what?"_

_"Well during our break on the next Hogsmeade visit, would you li...like to...spend some time together?"_

_"Sure," she had smiled as she'd answered, "but what about Harry?"_

_"I can to talk to him."_

_"Okay, during our break."_

_"Brilliant!" He'd smiled. After that they had turned back to proceed down the corridor that held the Fat Lady's portrait._

_End of Flashback_

_Heh...things have certainly changed. _Ron glanced over to his bag of school books next to his bed and contemplated whether to open one of his text books. There was only two weeks left in school and N.E.W.T.s were already completed. Why did the professors insist on still assigning homework?_ Because most of them are total gits. _

Later, he decided as he made his way back over to his bed and laid down. What am I going to do? It'll be so long before I see her again. Will it be selfish to ask her to wait for me? Or me wait for her? That'll never happen! She's the only one (for me?) I can see, ever. Merlin! Maybe I can give her a gift that she can use to think of me by. It wouldn't really say that I want her to just wait for me, she could see other people, but she better not! If I hear anything of the sort, nothing will stop me from getting to the research facilities. Ron heaved a sigh. What though? I hate being poor!

Harry decided to return to the dormitories after waiting for what he assumed would be enough time for Ron to calm down Hermione.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"I used my incredible charm to distract her," Ron replied truthfully, with a hint of amusement.

"Yeah...thanks..." Harry responded slightly disgusted.

"Not like that, perv! Not that I didn't want too."

"Shot down?"

"For now."

"Alright, I'll stop there. Up for a game of chess?"

"I'll kick your arse."

"Yeah, well I have hope."

"You might have that but you're still going to lose."

"I have no clue what she sees in you."

"I do", he responded cheekily. He got up from the bed and walked to his trunk to open it up and retrieve his old chess set. "Here or Common Room?"

"Common Room. Should we tell the others they have post up here? Or give them a few more hours of...whatever?" They made their way to the door.

"If they are down there we should but if not, let's just let them discover it on their own." The two mates left their room and started down the stairway.

"Alright," Harry said.

"What do you think it will be like?"

"Snape's class while he's in a good mood. Which means Gryffindor suffers." They made it to the doorway at the bottom of the stairs and went through it.

"Well that sounds bloody enticing," Ron muttered.

"Oh yeah." Harry rolled his eyes.

"What sounds enticing?" asked Neville, completely missing the sarcasm being exchanged between Ron and Harry. Neville was sitting in one of the plush leather armchairs that populated the Common Room.

"Uh...hey Neville...How's your day been so far?" Ron greeted.

"As good as any day, when you have Snape as your last professor of the day," Neville said with a bit of defeated air.

"Too true", said Harry. "Listen, Neville, You've got some post up on your bed."

"I...it's no...not from my Gr...Gra...Gran, is it?" Neville asked nervously.

"Nah...Just go see for yourself," Ron answered.

"Oh...okay. I guess I'll see you two later."

"Yeah, catch ya then," Ron replied. Neville got up from the leather arm chair and crossed to the door leading up to the boy's dormitory.

"They want Neville too?" Ron asked.

"I guess, maybe his letter says something different. Like Hermione's." Harry offered

"Maybe...Ready to lose?"

"Never!" Harry said confidently.

_Smart Arse!_ thought Ron. They chose an empty table in the corner of the room and began to set up for their game.

_A/N: This is in honor of my dear friend Amy! She's been going crazy for fics and I thought I'd help her out. Plus she has something on me that I am too embarrassed to share with all of you! A piece of advice...never ever write X-MEN movie fics! They are bad and embarrassing! And Amy better never release them! Or I shall really go up to where she lives! MUHAHAHA! _

And special Thanks to MrsPadf00t1, Jenorama, and my one of my greatest friends, Chris(trying to get him into fanfiction), for reading this through. And giving me the courage to actually go through with it! Oh my! I hope you enjoyed!

And I have one last word to say...and this is to my friend Chris. **SMOOGLING**!


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